Letter of Support

As an interested participant in this process, may I firstly offer my sincere congratulations to those of our leaders, willing to stick their heads above the parapet and sign the Collective Agreement with the Crown. I can truly see a bright light at the end of a very long tunnel and I am grateful for that.

I look down through the list of significant signatories to our document and note the ‘collective’ power, the ‘collective’ leadership and the ‘collective’ representation required to take on the immutable Crown. On our behalf, you have all taken us from grievance mode, to a position, whereby, we are so close to settlement, that we can now begin to dream. You all have to be congratulated for this. Secondly, thank you also for making these documents publicly available on websites whereby interested parties, can contribute in open and transparent processes. This is a vital cog in the information process and I know that you will endeavour to keep us all in the so called loop.

I firmly believe that Treaty Settlements are very political in nature. They are not negotiated settlements, they are pragmatic solutions. There isn’t enough money in the coffers, to restore what was stolen, under the veiled charade of government. To date, no Treaty Settlement has surpassed anything more than 2 per cent, of that, which was taken by foul means. There has to be a point where our leaders say, ‘okay….this is an economic launching pad where we can perhaps, begin to turn things around’. Tainui, Ngai Tahu and others have made this choice. Te Hiku o Te Ika are on the threshold of settlement. My urgent plea, as an uri of Materoa Ngarimu is to get behind our respective and mandated leaders, in order that Settlement can be realised in our lifetimes.

I wholeheartedly support the direction our mandated representatives are taking. I urge all of us, where possible, to encourage open and direct dialogue and support the difficult decisions that are being made on our behalf. Leadership is difficult, but it is not limiting.